Unspoken
by SwanQueenUK
Summary: SwanQueen One-Shot fic for the 500th reviewer of Troubled Teachers. Regina and Emma talk about their relationships and hidden feelings bubble just below the surface. Full prompt revealed within.


A/N: this a one-shot for the 500th reviewer of Troubled Teachers. Yes, I may have forgotten … anyway, thanks RegalBelieverLP for the idea and the full prompt will be revealed at the end. Also, this was supposed to contain established CaptainSwan and OutlawQueen but I mentioned Emma going dark and then ignored the underworld bit. So time-wise it's floating around without a home. I hope that doesn't matter much to you guys!

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She wasn't sure if it was the gentle lapping of the water against the harbour walls. Or if it was the pale rim of the sun emerging slowly over the horizon. Or even if it was the lazy call of the gulls sailing overhead. Maybe it was some combination of all three which made the docks in the early hours one of Regina Mills' favourite places in Storybrooke.

She took a sip of coffee from her thermos, delighting in the perfect brew as it slid down her throat and she adjusted her seat on the bench. The cold from the wood was slowly ebbing away as she sat there, watching and waiting for the day to begin.

The sky was clear, a yellow tinge already beginning to brighten the distant spot where the calm sea met the endless heaven. Not that Regina believed in heaven. But she couldn't deny the romanticism of an idea involving life after death. She wondered what her future would look like when she eventually died. She doubted she'd find herself in some white, fluffy paradise. She might have become a hero now but years as the Evil Queen still haunted her. Robin though, he was good. He'd go to heaven. And what about Emma? Would her stint as the Dark One prevent her from passing through the pearly gates. Regina wondered whether Emma would even want to go to heaven; that certainly wasn't where Captain Guyliner would end up.

A distant sound reached her ears. Footsteps. Pounding steadily on the concrete jetty. Regina didn't turn around. She didn't need to. She already knew who was running towards her.

"Hey," Emma puffed, sitting down beside the brunette and taking a long swig from her water bottle. "Just in time."

Regina glanced sideways at her friend and then back to looking at the horizon where the first glimpse of the sun was emerging. They sat in silence and watched as the pale, fiery ball glided upwards and a new day began.

"How was your run?" Regina asked after a while.

"Same as always," Emma shrugged. "Almost fell over in the woods again I but managed to stay upright this time."

"You're the clumsiest person I know," Regina chuckled.

"Yeah, sorry about that. It's a shame Henry got my coordination gene."

"You gave him some good stuff too. I forgive you," Regina replied.

They fell into a comfortable silence again. The toes of Emma's sneakers tapped a pebble back and forth as Regina finished her coffee. Already the warmth of the sun's rays were reaching them. It was going to be another fine spring day.

"Did you talk to him?"

Regina shook her head at the whispered question, staring straight at the sun. It began to hurt her eyes but she didn't care. She didn't want to see the look on Emma's face.

"Why not?"

The disappointment was evident in the blonde's voice. Regina felt her heart flutter. She didn't want Emma to be disappointed in her. But she also didn't think she was strong enough to do what the younger woman had been urging her to do for weeks.

"I … it's not the right time," Regina shrugged.

"Is there a right time?" Emma asked. "Regina, if you're not happy, then you need to do something about that. We're the ones in control of our destiny, yes? So it's up to you to make a change."

"But he _is_ happy," Regina said, still refusing to look at her friend and focusing now on a white swan which had paddled into the harbour. The birds had been a new addition to Storybrooke, appearing days after a particular yellow death trap first rolled over the town line. "Robin's happy. He thinks nothing is wrong. He thinks I'm his happy ending. And Roland called me Mom the other day. It was a mistake, I think. It just slipped out and seemed to surprise him as much as me. But my heart broke when I heard it. How can I leave them now?"

Emma reached out and laid her hand over Regina's fidgeting fingers.

"Regina, are you happy?"

Her bottom lip trembled and she bit hard to try and stop it. She tasted the faint tang of blood as the skin broke. Wordlessly, she shook her head.

"You need to tell him," Emma urged gently. "If he loves you, surely he'll want you to be happy, even if it isn't with him. That's what love is, right? Wanting the best for those we care about even if it hurts us to let them go?"

Regina's brown eyes, glistening with tears, finally met Emma's. A watery smile returned the blonde's encouraging gaze.

"You're going to find your happy ending," Emma continued, squeezing Regina's fingers in her own. "You are going to find someone who makes you happy and who loves you just as much as you love them."

Regina's fingers gripped Emma's slightly, and she relished in the sensation of warm smooth skin against her own. Emma's touch always calmed her. She'd always tried to avoid thinking why that might be the case. After all, Emma was with …

"Like you and Hook?" Regina asked, her gut clenching even at the man's name.

"Um, yeah," Emma nodded, blinking rapidly at the mention of her boyfriend.

Regina narrowed her eyes. It might have taken them years but Regina and Emma were finally friends. And the brunette could read the sheriff like a book. She knew when the younger woman was lying.

"Follow your own advice, Emma," she said as she stood up. "If you think I deserve better than Robin, why haven't you worked out that you deserve better than the pirate?"

"I love Hook," Emma frowned, standing as well and hurrying after the mayor who had started back down the docks at a brisk pace.

"Do you?" Regina asked over her shoulder. "Or is that just what you keep telling yourself."

Emma stopped dead in her tracks, anger flaring in her eyes. Regina realised quickly that Emma wasn't behind her and turned back, her own breathing harsh and shallow. The blonde was rooted to the spot, hands balled into fists. Regina knew Emma was pissed off and blood pounded in her own ears. Maybe this was it. Maybe this was the moment when she was finally able to confess her feelings to the blonde. After months of meeting at the docks in the early hours, perhaps it was time for Emma to learn the truth about why Regina was so unhappy with Robin.

"I'll tell Robin when you tell Hook. Deal?"

"And what? We'll be lonely, sad, old spinsters together?" Emma sneered.

"Sounds better than being in relationships where we're both not happy," Regina replied. She hesitated for a split second before continuing. "And who knows what might happen when we open ourselves up to new possibilities."

Emma's eyes widened for a split second before they narrowed again.

"I'm not breaking up with Hook," Emma said. "He loves me."

Regina's heart sank but she quickly schooled her features into a mask once more. Emma couldn't know how her heart had just been broken. She had to stay strong.

"And Robin loves me," Regina shot back. "That doesn't mean I want to be with him. Come on, Emma, stop pretending. He'll get back on his boat and sail away to some other magical land and you'll be free again. You'll be _Emma_ again. He's changed you, you know. He's destroyed the woman who first came to Storybrooke and you've been this shell of your former self long enough. We want that fiery mother who would do anything for her family and stood up for what was right back. We miss her. I miss her. So do us all a favour, get rid of Hook and bring her back."

With that, Regina turned and walked away. Emma stood stock still for a moment before slowly returning to the bench on which she and the brunette had just been sitting. She sank onto it, trying to understand what on earth had just happened.

How had Regina known? Not even her own mother knew Emma wasn't happy with Hook. And Hook certainly didn't know. Emma wasn't sure how he could possibly still think everything was fine but he did and Emma hadn't had the courage to tell him otherwise. Like Regina, she didn't want to destroy his rose-tinted delusion that everything was great between them. But it wasn't. Just like Robin and Regina, Emma knew her happy ending wasn't with Hook. In fact, she'd had an inkling for a while who her happy ending might involve.

"Hello love."

Emma jumped at the familiar voice behind her and quickly plastered a smile on her face, pushing thoughts of a certain brunette beauty from her mind.

"Killian, hi," she said, as the pirate sat down beside her.

"I woke up and you were gone," he said, scratching at his stubble. Emma hated that sound.

"I went for a run," she shrugged.

"Been doing a lot of that recently," Killian mused. "Any reason for it? I can't remember the last time you were actually lying next to me when I woke up."

Emma glanced back down the dock. Regina had disappeared. She wasn't surprised. Regina would need to get home to Henry and Roland and Robin and continue to perform her domesticated routine with her new family. Leaving Emma, alone. Had Regina seen Hook walking down to meet her? Had she told Killian that Emma didn't love him? Not that Emma had admitted that to Regina, of course, but she knew she hadn't fooled the brunette. It had been months of Emma persuading Regina to do something about her relationship with Robin and now Emma suspected the exact same thing would happen to her. Regina was right. They were the same. They were both in relationships with people they didn't love. The only thing Emma didn't know was how to tell the woman she did love how she felt. But before she could begin to fathom that, there was something else she needed to do.

"Killian," she sighed. "We need to talk."

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A/N: and the prompt:

Set in Storybrooke, but no particular time, just somewhere in between, I guess. Established CaptainSwan and OutlawQueen, but both are sensing that it's not quite the happy ending they'd been hoping for. Established SQ friendship but both have feelings for the other one they don't want to admit to themselves. Emma is going for a run early in the morning and runs into Regina at the docks. Regina is lost in thought and Emma sits down to talk with her. It's kind of supposed to be relationship advice for both of respective relationships but both are secretly hoping that the other one detects they are actually talking about a possible relationship between the two of them. Neither one does and when Emma and Regina head back home separately, they both feel like they have missed their final chance.


End file.
